Korea's GRAC vows reform after complaints about game ratings

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Korea's GRAC vows reform after complaints about game ratings

The Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) holds a press conference at the committee’s office in western Seoul on Thursday. [YOON SO-YEON]

The Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) holds a press conference at the committee’s office in western Seoul on Thursday. [YOON SO-YEON]

 
Korea’s game rating agency says it will do a better job after receiving complaints.
 
Some inappropriate games are getting through their controls, while found inoffensive are being improperly tagged, critics have claimed.
 
“We promise to open up and listen more,” Kim Kyu-chul, chairman of the Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC), said in a press conference held Thursday at the committee’s office in western Seoul.
 
GRAC is a government body that labels games by age group based on images and storylines. The categories are ALL, 12+, 15+ and 18+.
 
The organization, which is under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, screens for sex, violence, horror, foul language, drug and alcohol use and gambling.
 
Since 2017, game publishers have been rating their own games.
 
GRAC intervenes afterward if it finds or receives a report of games that have been inappropriately rated, though arcade games or games that are rated 18 must be reviewed by the committee before they make it onto the market.
 
Officials from the Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) explains rating standards at the committee in a press conference on Thursday. [YOON SO-YEON]

Officials from the Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) explains rating standards at the committee in a press conference on Thursday. [YOON SO-YEON]

 
Attention has been focused on Blue Archive, a mobile game by Nexon, and Badasin 2, a puzzle game by local developer JinSoft.
 
Blue Archive’s 15+ and 18+ and over on Oct. 4, a year after it was released in November 2021. Badasin 2 was given an ALL rating on Oct. 20 despite its resemblance to the Bada Iyagi video game.
 
Bada Iyagi, or the Sea Story, was a pachinko-style arcade game that set off a gambling frenzy in 2006 resulting in hundreds of people going broke. The Game Rating Board was founded in 2006 as a result and was changed to the GRAC in 2013.
 
The decision on Blue Archive was made after it received numerous reports from users and the sexually suggestive nature of parts of the game.
 
A lack of transparency by GRAC was also a concern, and accusations of corruption were hurled.
 
“We have prided ourselves in having protected both the suppliers and consumers of games,” Kim said. “However, the recent string of events has made us think again and taught us that the focus needs to be on users, especially now that the game market has matured and the role of users is more important than ever.”
 
Kim Kyu-chul, chairman of the Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) [YOON SO-YEON]

Kim Kyu-chul, chairman of the Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) [YOON SO-YEON]

 
GRAC promised to hold regular meetings with game users starting at the end of this year. It will heed their concerns and also disclose the specific process of how the committee members rate games for people to better understand how a decision is made.
 
The committee will also post images and pictures of examples of games that have been re-rated so that companies may better rate their games, as opposed to the text-only information that is uploaded on its website.
 
It will add two additional members to the re-rating board, which has three members now, and also have two outside consultants to help make decisions. Proceedings and meetings will be posted promptly and transparently on the website, GRAC said.
 
The committee refuted accusations that it is arbitrary.
 
“For instance, if it’s about sexual explicitness, we can’t put a number down on what makes it appropriate or not,” said Song Seok-hyeong, the team manager at the game rating service team.
 
“Is it too sexual if it shows 70 percent of flesh, or if the skirt is this much above the knee? That’s not how it works. We trust the data that the committee has accumulated over the years, but we promise to improve our information notice board so that it’s easier for developers and users alike can better understand our rating standards.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]
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